Small efforts of love
by BrokenSpear
Summary: Jackson wanted to do something in return to show his love for Aaron. N.B. I am considering turning this into a collection of one-shots which may or may not be connected.
1. Remember This

**Disclaimer:** _The characters and overreaching plot belongs to ITV Studios. I gain no money from this. No copyright infringement intended. The original plot in this short story belongs to me as well as any original characters (OCs)._

**Author note:** Prompt from .org Unbeta'd.

Jackson stirred awake as the sunlight made its way into his eyes. He pushed himself up from the soft bed and rubbed his eyes. His then gaze wandered over the room before it focused on the alarm clock. The digital clock showed in angry red numbers that it was almost 10 o' clock in the morning. He shook his head at the time. He had not seen Aaron and he therefore assumed that the other man got away to work in good time. Realizing that he could not stay in bed all day he pushed the blue duvets to the side and swung his legs over the bed and searched after his clothes. He found the blue shirt he had worn yesterday, sloppily thrown into a corner of the bedroom. After he had put on yesterday's briefs, silently pondering if it would be a good idea to put some clean underwear somewhere in the drawers and if Aaron would be alright with that, his feet made contact with the wooden floor and he made his way over to the shirt while picking up his dark blue jeans on the way. Leaning against the wall he putted on the jeans and shirt. With slight panic he searched the room after his socks. Not finding them anywhere he tried to recall where they ended up yesterday. He got a feeling they disappeared somewhere between the stairs and the bedroom door. He was right as the first thing he saw when he left the bedroom was one of his socks lying next to the door. He picked it up and walked down the stairs. Once down at the ground floor Rhona greeted him with a knowing smile. Jackson responded with one of his usual smiles.

"Morning," he replied.

"I believe this one belongs to you?" Rhona asked and waved a single white sock in front of him. Jackson laughed and took the sock from her.

"I wondered where it went off to," he responded.

"Awh, too bad it wasn't your shirt," Rhona then said with a wink which caused Jackson to let out another warm chuckle.

"Bet you do," he answered with a wink and walked over to the kitchen. He then spotted his mom Hazel sitting by the kitchen table, wearing a cyan blouse. She looked up at him and he greeted her. She gave him a smile in response.

"Good morning to you too, lazy sod," she teased. "Juice is in the fridge, sunshine," she then added. Jackson nodded in response and turned to the white, slightly worn, fridge which had a frame of silver colored metal. One look at the fridge and his breath got stuck in his throat though. In the background he could make out a small chuckle coming from his mother. He didn't pay much interest to her as his focus was aimed at a small yellow Post-It note, which was stuck onto the fridge. Jackson read the short but sweet message over. "To Do List: Love Jackson every day 3" A big smile spread over his face. His boyfriend wasn't one much for tokens of appreciation or romance in general so the short message meant a lot to Jackson. His mother cleared her throat and Jackson turned to look at her.

"The boy seems to get better, hm? Go on, I think he is working at the garage today," he said. Jackson gave her a quick smile before he made his way over to the front door, forgetting all about breakfast.

-ooOOoo-

Aaron was busy with a rather stubborn old Ford and cussed silently under his breath as he tried to loosen a screw which had rusted stuck. Cain didn't help much with his cheeky comment about the screw being more stubborn that Aaron himself. Aaron had simply rolled his eyes at the comment.

"Put your back into it!" Ryan shouted over from a nearby Medan on which he was in the process of replacing a broken bumper on. Aaron looked up and shot the other mechanic an annoyed look. Ryan didn't let it get to him and continued to beam towards him.

Cain spotted Jackson walking by the newly renovated Dale Head house, renovated by Jackson himself, as he was leaning towards the wall of the garage with a coffee in his hand. He smirked and looked over at Aaron.

"Hey look, your lover-boy is here Aaron. If he helps you, you two might have enough strength to remove that screw, ey?" Cain teased. Aaron sighed and rolled his eyes. He knew that Cain was just trying to be funny. By now his remarks hardly wound him up anymore. Jackson on the other hand was quick to make a come-back at Cain's comment which made Aaron crack a smile.

"Must be easy to supervise, just standing round doing nothing and letting the real men do all the work, hm?" Jackson responded in a cheeky manner. Cain gave him an annoyed look and walked over to another car to continue with his own task. Jackson let out a short chuckle and walked over to Aaron who had let the screw go for once. As he appeared Aaron flashed him a half-smile.

"Alright?" he asked. Jackson smiled in response and without any warning he embraced Aaron whom raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"I'm great after that sweet little message of yours," Jackson responded. Aaron smiled back at Jackson.

"Glad ya liked it," he replied.

"Very much," Jackson said and leaned in. Aaron smirked and pressed his lips against Jackson's, not caring that anyone saw. Jackson kissed back and opened his mouth slightly so that he could let his tongue bruise against Aaron's dry lips. Their intimate moment got interrupted however by comments by the other two mechanics.

"Get a room you too," Ryan said in mock annoyance.

"Oi, he got work to do!" Cain responded with a slight scowl.

Aaron broke away from the kiss and shot his workmates each an annoyed glare. He then looked back into Jackson's brown eyes and placed a quick kiss on his lips.

"Later," he said with another smirk. Jackson understood and broke away from the brief embrace. "See you for lunch later then?" Aaron then asked.

"That sounds good. I'll just get some breakfast and swing by Home Farm to see if Declan got any work for me," Jackson answered.

"Good," Aaron commented and placed another quick kiss at Jackson's lips. Jackson gave his boyfriend a warm look before he left the garage while Aaron watched as he left. Once Jackson was out of his sight he returned to the rusty screw with a grin plastered on his face. The screw finally came off too!

**The End**...?


	2. Tha Way to a Man's Heart

**Disclaimer:** _The characters and overreaching plot belongs to ITV Studios. I gain no money from this. No copyright infringement intended. The original plot in this short story belongs to me as well as any original characters (OCs)._

**Author's note: Unbeta'd. Please R&R.**

Jackson had appreciated the sweet message earlier that day. He was happy that Aaron had slowly got his head around things. It had been close a few times that he had given up but he always came back. There was something alluring about the young troubled mechanic. He couldn't keep himself away for long and by now he was glad he never did. Something had changed in Aaron these past months for the better. However he now found himself in a bit of trouble. He wanted to show Aaron how much he loved him but nothing came to mind. But that didn't keep him from trying.

A few hours later he went to the Woolie to meet up with Aaron for lunch. As usually the other man was late. Instead he went up to the counter to exchange a few words with Paddy and Rhona.

"What can I get you?" Diane asked as soon as he arrived to the counter.

"Uh, a pint please, Diane," he asked. With a nod Diane went to work. While he waited for his beer he turned to Paddy and Rhona.

"How's things?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh, it's fine thanks Jackson," Paddy responded with a smile. A small frown went over the older man's face however. "Will you and Aaron be alright tonight?" Paddy asked.

Jackson gave him a furrowed look but before he could respond Diane interrupted him. After he paid her for the pint he looked back at the other man.

"Yeah. Are you going somewhere?" he asked and tilted his head. Paddy exchanged a look with Rhona before he turned back to him.

"Yes in fact I am. Well me and Rhona actually. We just need some time for ourself," Paddy explained. Jackson nodded as he listened to the older man.

"So it'll only be me and Aaron then? Seeing as me mom will be away too," he then asked, a plan forming in his mind.

"Yes I suppose so. It's OK is it?"

"Paddy. I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself," Jackson replied with a chuckle.

"Yes, yes of course," Paddy stammered slightly.

Not long thereafter Aaron arrived and Jackson waved him over. The mechanic spotted his boyfriend and walked up to them. When he got up to the people standing at the bar wrapped his arm around Jackson's neck. They spoke a little with Paddy and Rhona while Aaron waited for his beer. Once he had got his beer the couple bid Paddy and Rhona farewell and went over to a table. They had already placed their order with Diane and after a short wait Marlon came over to serve them. The rest of the lunch went one with some small talk and a few laughs.

ooOOoo

Jackson's plan had shaped up quite nicely in his head but he still needed some preparations. It caused him to be slightly distracted though and he didn't get as much work done as he was supposed to. Thankfully it was mostly paper work at Home Farm for Declan's barn conversions. He spent a lot of the time browsing the web after recipes. Jackson was a decent cook and he managed quite well with cooking on his own. He didn't have a sincere interest about recipes though but he did an exception today. He wanted to cook the most delicious meal ever for his moody boyfriend. After work he went to the local shop to get the ingredients needed before he headed back to Smithy. He knew he had only a few hours before Aaron was ending work so he had to hurry. He unpacked the bags and placed the different ingredients on the bench. At first he had fancied a three course meal but sadly he didn't have the time so he settled for a warm meal and some dessert. He quickly got working on the meal which was some nice steak, roasted potatoes, a salad with tomatoes, cucumber and peach as well as a musty chanterelle sauce.

About 2 hours later a tired Aaron walked up the footpath. After lunch the day had went straight to hell. A few clients had argued with them about cars not being repaired on time and one car which were missing. Debbie had kept it together while Cain just got even grumpier than usually. He had even had a go at Aaron about the missing car, like he would know where it was. The car did turn up eventually as Ryan had taken it for a test drive without informing Cain or Debbie. At least it had been amusing to see Debbie and Cain having a go at Ryan, Aaron thought. When he arrived to the door he unlocked it and walked in. He could smell something nice in the air and he headed to the kitchen where he found Jackson by the oven.

"Are you cooking?" Aaron asked in disbelief. With a smile to his face Jackson turned around and beamed at that usual scowl of Aaron's.

"Yes. Come here, taste this," he asked and waved him over to taste the sauce. Aaron obliged and took a sip of the spoon Jackson held out.

"It tastes alright," he answered and peered over at the food. "Thought we would just have pizza tonight?"

"I wanted to cook something nice," Jackson responded with that everlasting smile of his.

"I haven't forgot something have I? It's not our anniversary or something innit?" Aaron scowled.

Jackson chuckled. "No you div. I just made this to show how much I love you. If it was your anniversary and you forgot it you would know. Speaking of which, which day is our anniversary day?" he asked.

"Hmmm..." Aaron said and looked like he had to think for a bit. Jackson smile faltered a little at that. Then Aaron cracked a smile and embraced him. "It's the 17th of June of course, how could I forget that?" Aaron then replied with a smile. Jackson smiled back and they exchanged a kiss.

"Let's eat before it gets cold," Jackson then announced.

ooOOoo

After they had enjoyed a nice meal the boys rested in the couch. The meal has been quite well cooked, to Aaron's surprise. He had commented on that and with a chuckle Jackson had responded that one of them had to know how to cook after all. The only thing Aaron found strange about the meal was peaches in the salad though. Jackson did defend his decision that it stood so in the recipe... and that he liked peach. Besides that the meal had been enjoyable. There was one thing Aaron wondered about though...

"What were you going to do with the strawberries?" he asked and turned to Jackson.

"Something sexy and erotic," Jackson explained with a smirk.

"What you mean?" Aaron asked with a scowl.

"Oh some strawberries, some chocolate and your naked body... how does that sound?"

"What are we waiting for then?"

With a mischievous look on his face Aaron headed to the kitchen quickly followed by Jackson. They grabbed the stuff before they headed upstairs.


End file.
